Batten Down

Saratoga Springs, N.Y. -- It is no surprise that Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas is confident that his GI Preakness Stakes winner Seize the Grey (Arrogate) is up to the challenge he will face Saturday at Saratoga Race Course in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes. Never shy about touting his horses, Lukas, 88, said that the MyRacehorse colt is ready to take on beaten GI Kentucky Derby favorite Fierceness (City of Light) and beaten GI Belmont Stakes favorite Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in the local prep for the...

Juddmonte homebred Batten Down (Tapit) is probable for next Saturday's GII Jim Dandy Stakes, per Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. The gray won the nine-furlong GIII Ohio Derby last out June 22 at Thistledown. "I guess that is the way we are going," Mott said. "When you have a horse like that, you look at all the options and think of where you fit. We felt it was time to reach out and take a chance in the Jim Dandy." Mott added that the GI DraftKings Travers Stakes Aug....

Back on the hamster wheel, everybody. You know the drill. Usual freshman hype, please. Just remember to change the names--and not to dwell too unhelpfully on how things played out for those being talked up four or five years ago. But the legitimate, perennial challenge of the yearling circuit also abides, and likewise much of its color and character. Just not quite all. Not enough time has elapsed, certainly, to heal one aching void. For many of his compatriots, in particular, every barn we enter we still half-expect to hear...

Just a week after her younger brother Batten Down took the GIII Ohio Derby, 'TDN Rising Star' Scylla (Tapit) kept the family's good fortune going with a strong win in the GII Fasig-Tipton Fleur de Lis Stakes at Churchill Downs Saturday. The 4-5 favorite stutter-stepped slightly coming out of the gate and was at the tail of the field behind fractions of :24.07 and :48.83. Still last into the far turn, the bay filly made rapid progress while five wide approaching the stretch. She drifted in slightly in upper stretch,...

It is the typically interesting opinion of John Sikura that "a stallion's genetic switch is either on or off." The quality and quantity of his books may affect his profile, but his potency (or otherwise) will be operative the day he covers his first mare. Sure enough, six Grade I winners to date for Not This Time all belong to his first two books, conceived at just $15,000. Whatever he might yet achieve with his upgraded mares, paying $135,000 last year and now $150,000, he did not need their help...

Approaching the start of the sixth week of the season at Delaware Park, a pair of apprentices--one a five-pound bugboy and the other still with his seven-pound allowance--are riding high atop the jockey standings. Through Saturday's racing, the Delaware win totals by Gabriel Maldonado (25) and Ederik Robles (18) matched the rookies' ages. Maldonado just finished a blast-off week that saw him winning nine races in a four-day span at three different tracks. On Wednesday, the five-pound apprentice tallied with the last of six afternoon mounts at Delaware, then traveled...

You could say Batten Down has a little bit of family legacy to live up to. The son of champion Close Hatches took a step towards doing just that Saturday at Thistledown with a gate-to-wire win in the GIII Ohio Derby. The full-brother to both MGSW/MGISP Juddmonte sire Tacitus and to GSW Scylla took four tries to break his maiden, finally winning by 8 3/4 emphatic lengths last out at Churchill Downs going 1 1/4 miles Apr. 30. Saturday's Ohio Derby was his first step up from the maiden ranks...

A veteran of two-thirds of this year's Triple Crown series, Albaugh Family Stables' Catching Freedom (Constitution) gets a fair bit of class relief while facing nine others in Saturday's $500,000 GIII Ohio Derby at Thistledown outside of Cleveland. Winner of the GII Louisiana Derby to earn his spot in the field for the GI Kentucky Derby, the $575,000 Keeneland September acquisition gave an excellent account of himself on the first Saturday in May, delivering a rails rally in the stretch to round out the superfecta, a length and three-quarters behind...

Juddmonte homebred Batten Down (Tapit), a full-brother to multiple graded winner Tacitus, worked five furlongs in company in 1:01.09 (1/4) over the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga Monday, but trainer Bill Mott is still considering whether the sophomore will line up for the June 8 GI Belmont S. Batten Down, with jockey Junior Alvarado up, went on the outside of stablemate Arthur's Ride (Tapit) as NYRA clockers caught them through splits of :12.54, :24.80, :36.99 and through five-eighths in 1:01.99 before galloping out in 1:14.19 and 1:28.94. The pair stayed...

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has plenty to look forward to at next month's Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, with at least five trainees eyeing stakes engagements during the lucrative weekend. Juddmonte homebred Batten Down (Tapit) is the latest addition to the prospective field for the GI Belmont S. with Mott confirming the 10-furlong test is next. "I don't know if he'll get in or not--he's only broken his maiden," said Mott. At fourth asking Apr. 30 at Aqueduct, the full-brother to the Mott-trained MGISP and current sire Tacitus drew...

4th-Churchill Downs, $117,750, Msw, 4-30, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m, 2:02.49, ft, 8 3/4 lengths. BATTEN DOWN (c, 3, Tapit--Close Hatches {Ch. Older Mare, MGISW, $2,707,300}, by First Defence), a full-brother to Tacitus (MGSW & MGISP, $3,767,350), romped home the easiest of winners when stretched to 10 furlongs at Churchill Downs Tuesday. A distant sixth in his seven-furlong unveiling Jan. 27, the gray missed by just a neck when second after setting the pace going nine furlongs at Gulfstream Feb. 24 and was beaten a half-length when third going 1 1/16 miles...

2nd-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, 7f, 11:30 a.m. The inside four horses, all first-time starters, headline Pegasus World Cup day at Gulfstream Park Saturday. BATTEN DOWN (Tapit) kicks things off for Bill Mott who looks to capitalize on a huge Eclipse Awards night with this Juddmonte homebred. A son of champion older mare Close Hatches, this colt is out of a full-sister to MGISP Lockdown, herself the dam of newly-crowned champion 3-year-old filly Idiomatic (Curlin). He is also a full-brother to MGSW/MGISP Tacitus and from the family of G1 Tattersalls Irish...